Gay Life in Canadian Cities

[SpongeG]

I have no idea

i just assumed it was based off this flag

gay bear brotherhood flag

fineartamerica.com

the leather pride flag

crwflags.com

trans flag

[SpongeG]

and there is a straight pride flag


globalnews

[YYCguys]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

and there is a straight pride flag


globalnews

Which was promptly and soundly rejected by Airdrie (Alberta) City Council.

[Renn]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

So, the Anglican Church in Canada is apparently deciding not to proceed with marriage equality at a Canadian synod taking place now, or just wrapped up, or whatever, I don't know - but it was the talk of the Pride parade.

Churches have never needed more support, so I honestly can't understand how proceeding with same sex marriages would be anything but a no-brainer. Old biases die hard i suppose

[vid]

Originally Posted by YYCguys

Which was promptly and soundly rejected by Airdrie (Alberta) City Council.

Heterophobia! How will straight people know they can get married there if there isn't a flag?

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by vid

Heterophobia! How will straight people know they can get married there if there isn't a flag?

Well at least the flag is a good representation, it depicts prison bars.

[SignalHillHiker]

We took first and third place in Atlantic Drag Idol in Halifax. Yay!



CONGRATULATIONS, IRMA GERD!

[SpongeG]

hopefully this isn't offensive to anyone but when did gay pride turn into women get your nipples out or walk around with either no shirt or a mesh shirt or wear something where your ass hangs out pride?

I haven't gone to anything pride since the 90s I went today for some and so many woman, some of them were I assume straight as they were with guys and getting all over each other, anyway its just bizarre.

[someone123]

I don't understand the opposition to revealing outfits, nudity, or even some overt sexual activity at pride. Having your butt hanging out in 2019 is no more subversive than it was to see two men kiss in 1991 and it's no more harmful to onlookers who choose to be there when the event is going on. I hope people continue to push the envelope in the future.

The "mass market" appeal of pride is tricky. It's great that it's more socially accepted but I'm not interested in going to events full of straight girls. There are about 100x more girls out there who want to go on safari and see a raunchy gay party than there are gay guys who go to those parties. The girls don't seem to get this; it's annoying just to be followed around and nagged. A lot of them will touch guys in a sexual way without asking (i.e. engage in a kind of activity that most of them would consider incredibly taboo when women are on the receiving end of it).

[SpongeG]

It was never like this though. It was always men walking around in skimpy almost nothing there clothes, now its the opposite, its all women doing it. Perhaps I am old.

People getting on skytrain practically naked is just bizarre to me. One girl had on a mini skirt and a mesh top, nothing to hide anything, and her skirt when she turned around was completely open to show off her bare ass with a g string up her crack. Oh thats pretty to see on the skytrain.

[isaidso]

Nudity has never bothered me in the slightest. People could walk around completely naked 100% of the time for all I care. It's rude, inconsiderate, aggressive people that I have an issue with.

[SpongeG]

I guess its just feels like straight people have taken over pride. They've even dropped the "Gay" from it now its just called Pride. I have no problem with nudity either I just have a problem with straight people taking it over.

Davie had a street party and it was all straight people it seemd lining up to get a pic at the Fido booth or the Subway booth or the Tim Horotns booth, they had a bus ball pit that was all straight people.

They had a fenced off dance area that looked like it was mostly straight folk. All the gay crowd were lining up to get into a couple of bars that were packed.

[zahav]

I noticed that at Van Pride this year too, but I think that's just the way things are going in major urban areas? Maybe a small time pride only gets gay folk and some spectators, but the large prides are basically the largest city celebrations amongst all celebrations, straight or gay. Pride is undoubtedly Vancouver's busiest party weekend, probably the 1st or 2nd busiest hotel/accomodation event of the year, and for the first time this year, I felt it really gave the city a big party feel for one of the only times I remember. I think the promenade and multi-media event kind of thing on Davie delivered on making it more fun (even all the tables and people chilling and eating was nice, it wasn't just a giant dance crowd penned off). But I def noticed the crowd composition. But I guess I was happy that as far as event weekends go, it seeemed to really deliver and people enjoyed it, and I think there were way more tourists than usual, which is good for the City. Weather was amazing too, another big ingredient in the success. But I am gay, so noticing the much much more mixed crowd was there, but I don't think that's going to change (at least without something major happening in the world). The straight/mainstream commercial "embrace" of Pride etc. is only getting more dominant

[Loco101]

Some of those people you may think are straight may in fact not be.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Loco101

Some of those people you may think are straight may in fact not be.

Sure, maybe some of the jeering Granville-style club girls were highly atypical lesbians. This is mostly beside the point.

There are very few spaces in Vancouver that cater to the gay/queer community. They have a lot of pressure on them.

There is also a push for inclusivity so male and female only events are on the decline. There are more and more "queer" events, which is great in theory, but they end up being filled with screaming girls who act like they are on safari or like they are in a gay-themed straight bar. The straight guys often follow the girls too and tend to still be pretty homophobic a lot of the time (for all the supposed progress, my friends and I still got called fags this weekend, as usual), so the atmosphere can change dramatically.

If you want to go to a good event at Pride now in Vancouver you need to buy tickets ahead of time. And for the rest of the year when it's not cool for everyone to go to Davie we have to hope the bars don't close down and get redeveloped into condos.

It's a tricky situation. At some point I have a feeling the Davie bar scene will collapse and there will be a new, smaller set of gay bars in New West or something like that. Maybe that's not even such a bad thing since it's annoying for most people to get to the West End.

Unfortunately in Vancouver we also have the problem that it's hard to host big parties because young people here mostly live in tiny apartments.

[zahav]

Originally Posted by Loco101

Some of those people you may think are straight may in fact not be.

Ya no that wasn't the case and isn't the point either. someone123 answered the way I would have anyways. But I think Davie will be fine and is still a gay space, even with recent changes. But something to notice since gentrification of LGBT identity is happening everywhere now, not a Vancouver problem only

[ssiguy]

I have no problem with shirtless women and in fact this was legally decided in Ontario years ago with a court ruling. It was found to be unconstitutional to have 2 different laws for men & women so any where a man can go topless so can a woman. I do have a problem with nudity however.

If it's illegal everywhere else why should Pride be some form of exception? Also if this is suppose to be an event for the whole family in order to celebrate diversity then they should have some sensitivity about nudity. I wouldn't want my 6 year old to see nudity. If people want to engage in nudity at Pride then Pride should have the sensitivity to acknowledge that not everyone nor every age group wants to see it so they should have a separate "adult" area set aside after the parade for people who want to go nude or use sexually suggestive clothing.

[ssiguy]

As for basically more straight people going to Pride than gay people well I don't care and probably think it's a great thing as it reflects how Pride has gone from a niche market to one that is celebrated by the community at large. I know hardly gay guys who go to Pride and exceptionally few who go on a regular basis except for downtown ghetto guys who are gay for a living.

As far as the Pride parade having anything to do with sexual/gender minority right, that is farsical. The Pride parade has as much to do withgay rights as the Santa Claus parade does with the birth of Christ. It is a "good time" event which is fine but gay rights is the least of it's concerns. It is also a corporate free advertising event as well as, and most importantly, a HUGE money maker for local businesses, hotels, bars/resturants, and city coffers. Money is the Pride parades raison d'etre.

Certainly in smaller cities/towns there is still a gay rights component but the bigger events are very much corporate sponsored entertainment ones.

[SignalHillHiker]

So, this is Fogo Island... only a couple thousand people...

Fogo Island by R C, on Flickr

Fogo Island by R C, on Flickr

Fogo Island by R C, on Flickr

Fogo Island by R C, on Flickr

(An aside, if anything in Irish is spelled differently on Fogo Island than you've seen it in the past, the Fogo Island version is always correct )

This year they had their first-ever Pride Parade.

Fogo Island takes important step with first Pride walk

Fogo Island is taking a big, inclusive step forward with its first ever Pride Walk on Friday evening.

The island has been celebrating its first Pride Week, which began Sunday, organized by Trevor Taylor and Evan Parsons, co-directors of Fogo Island Pride.

The pair have lived all over Newfoundland. Rural communities are no strange places for them. They now call Fogo home.

"Even though we've always been accepted by communities that we've gone into, we've never really seen ourselves in those communities," Taylor told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning.

Taylor and Parsons grew up on the Avalon Peninsula, but the pair have spent three years in coastal Labrador, a year on the west coast of Newfoundland and now they're going on five years in Fogo.

"If we were going to settle down, if we were going to make roots here, we knew that we wanted to make a community for ourselves, and we knew that the community was there," Taylor said.

"It was just a matter of someone structuring it, and organizing it and putting it in place."

Creating a community
Parsons told CBC News the support from Fogo Island was there almost immediately when he and Taylor began telling people about their intentions.

The group's first meeting in May was met with overwhelming support he said, drawing 15 to 20 attendees in a community of roughly 2,200.

For Fogo Island's first Pride meeting, Parsons said it was a successful beginning.

As for the events so far, Parsons said the supportive crowds are far and beyond what he had imagined.

"We had 20 people sign on for the first day, and close to 75 or 80 showed up," he said.

"We had our drag show by the Haus of Trout at Scoff Restaurant on Monday night and we packed the house. They put on an amazing show."

So far, so good. Parsons and Taylor both said there has been no negative feedback from the community.

In fact, Taylor said comments from attendees have been largely positive.

"People have said, 'Thank God we have Pride on Fogo Island now,'" he said.

The duo is already beginning to plan for next year, and beyond.

Taylor said if they ever leave Fogo Island — which they have no plans to — that Pride Week should continue and they hope to pass the torch to keep the community alive if that time were to come.

Family support
Ann Decker is walking for her son, and she brought with her reinforcements in the form of the nurses she works with to beef up the numbers.

Decker told CBC News that there were roughly 100 people taking part in the parade, and hundreds more lining the streets to show their support for the cause.

"For a small community it certainly came together. We've got a lot of support and everyone is wearing their bright colours," Decker said, from the middle of the parade.

"It's a big thing for Fogo Island. It's bringing us out of the Dark Ages."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfo...walk-1.5242046

[SignalHillHiker]

Jeddy1989's wedding shower was tonight. About 60 of his family, and the fiance's family. Plus us in the wedding party.

CONGRATULATIONS, B'YS!



And my closest friend and I are both in it - she's a groomsmaid on the fiance's side, and I'm a groomsman on jeddy's side.



CONGRATS, GUYS! In less than three weeks ALL of us head (on the same flight, lol) to Scotland for a proper destination wedding.